Stephen spoke of his relief yesterday after judges threw out an appeal bid by the thugs to have their convictions overturned.

But the 45-year-old still bears physical and mental scars from the horror assault.

Livingston re-signed Gallagher ahead of his appeal and the player and Murray were bailed last year to await the legal challenge.

But Gallagher, 24, and Murray, 30, were ordered to serve their original three-year sentences after appeal court judges in Edinburgh decided a sheriff did not misdirect the jury at their trial.

Stephen, from Coatbridge, said: “You always assume there’s a possibility they could get off. I feel justice has been done now and we want to put it behind us.”

Stephen still suffers severe headaches due to his injuries and requires further surgery.

He said: “I need an operation on my nasal passage. I was kicked on the nose and that’s created blockages which may be causing headaches at the front of my head.

Declan Gallagher (Image: Pressteam)

“I don’t have blackouts any more but I still have flashbacks of the attack.”

Football fan Stephen spent five days in intensive care and suffered two massive splits in his head – and he was forced to turn off the TV whenever Gallagher took to the field for Livingston.

He said: “It was difficult to see him parading around the pitch without a care in the world.

“Sometimes I think it’s a shame that two young men have ended up like this but if you hit someone over the head with a baseball bat there’s a chance you could kill them. They could’ve killed me so justice has been served.”

Gallagher, of Dundee, and Murray, of ­Blantyre, were convicted in June last year of assaulting Stephen to severe injury as he left the Parkville Hotel, Blantyre, in April 2013.

Murray was found guilty of forcing Stephen’s partner Marie Dockrey to the ground and punching her head.

Gordon Jackson QC, representing Gallagher and Murray at the appeal, argued that the trial sheriff misdirected the jury by saying they could delete the words “baseball bat or similar” from the charge and leave “implement”.

Lady Smith, who heard the appeal with Lord Drummond Young and Lady Clark of Calton, refused the appeal.